S. PRABAKARAN, Senior Advocate along with R. BALASUBRAMANIAN Senior Advocate appeared today in the famous case of M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India & Ors before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, where the Hon’ble Supreme Court banned Sale and Registration of BS-IV Vehicle after 31st March, 2020. S. PRABAKARAN, Senior Advocate appeared for the car owner who had purchased a Skoda Rapid motor car (Petrol Variant – BS IV) from Gurudev Motors Private Limited, Anna Salai, Chennai, within the time period stipulated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its earlier judgment dated 24.10.2018.
S. PRABAKARAN, Senior Advocate appeared for the car owner who had purchased a Skoda Rapid motor car (Petrol Variant – BS IV) from Gurudev Motors Private Limited, Anna Salai, Chennai, within the time period stipulated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its earlier judgment dated 24.10.2018.
The owner of the vehicle is a resident of Sivakasi Town in Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu and he purchased the vehicle from Chennai on 12.03.2020 and thereafter, on 18.03.2020, he was also issued Temporary Certificate of Registration by the Transport Department of Government of Tamil Nadu, since he belongs to a different District and in terms of Section 40 of the Motor Vehicle Act, the vehicle has to be registered with the Regional Transport Office of which the owner is a Resident.
It is contented that the vehicle was not inspected by the RTO on 21.03.2020 and again he was asked to visit the RTO office again on 24.03.2020. Again the applicant visited the Regional Transport Office on 24.03.2020, however, instead of registering the vehicle of the Applicant herein, he was issued a Disclaimer dated 24.03.2020 according to which, the registration number of the vehicle was to be generated from the running series. On 24.03.2020 itself, the nation-wide lockdown was announced in view of the threat imposed by the spread of COVID–19 and all the government departments were closed for 21 days, which was subsequently extended until 31.05.2020.
However, in spite of number of visits of the Regional Transport Office, Sivakasi by the owner of vehicle, the same was not registered because of the imposition of nationwide lockdown and closer of the Government Departments in Tamil Nadu.
The Senior Counsel Mr. S. PRABAKARAN advanced the plea that the case of the owner of the vehicle is different from others inasmuch he was issued Temporary Certificate of Registration even prior to order dated 27.03.2020. And Senior Counsels also contended that the Government of India vide Letter dated 30.03.2020 extended the validity of the documents under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 including Temporary Certificate of Registration till 30.06.2020. In compliance of the same, the Home Department of Government of Tamil Nadu issued G.O. (D) No.615 dated 14.05.2020.
Finding merit in the contention of the Senior Counsels, the Hon’ble Supreme Court after hearing the arguments at length the Hon’ble Justice Arun Mishra and Hon’ble Justice Abdul Nazzer, issued notice to the Union of India and also directed the Additional Solicitor General of India Mr. A.S. Nadkarni to file centers response and case is adjourned to 8th July, 2020 for further orders.
